From grocer to grill master

Melanie Basha Ryan faces a nagging decision on Sundays when her father, the family grilling kingpin, serves dinner: Take a picture, or eat?

"My father's a grill artist. His food looks as good as it tastes," said Ryan, 27.

Her dad, with the concentration of a chess player, grills three chickens simultaneously, bakes birthday cakes over coals and remembers the best meal he ever grilled: Chilean sea bass, with wild rice and asparagus.

He's Johnny Basha, the front man for our hometown grocery chain, which was begun nearly 100 years ago by his Lebanese immigrant grandparents who moved to the Arizona Territory to open a mercantile.

For Basha, a father of four whose own father, Ike, died when Basha was 4, grilling is more than a way to get dinner on the table. It's a rite of passage. Some families fish; the Bashas grill. Father stands with children, teaching them how to sear New York strip steaks and thread kebabs.

Grilling isn't like roasting in the oven, Basha tells his kids. Keep your eyes on the grill or face disaster. Ribs should never be boiled before grilling. Build a tepee with the ribs, and rotate them often so they absorb the perfect hint of smoky flavor without turning the color of asphalt.

"My father's love of food, family and cooking comes out at the grill. His passion is contagious, and he passed his love of feeding others on to me," the 24-year-old student said.

In a roundabout way, Johnny Basha's nose-to-the-grindstone grilling style reflects the ethos that helped the family build its grocery business while other grocery families succumbed to a national trend of selling out to chains. The family's stores include Bashas', AJ's Fine Foods, Food City, Sportsman's Fine Wine & Spirits and Bashas' Diné supermarkets.

The family-business saga began in 1910 when Basha's grandparents, Najeeb and Najeeby, moved to Congress Junction to join family in a mercantile business. The couple soon opened their own store in Ray. The store was destroyed in a fire, and the couple started over with a store in nearby Sonora. In the 1920s, they opened a second store in Chandler.

The couple's nine children, including Ike and Eddie, worked in the store. The two brothers branched out to open their own store south of Chandler in 1932. That was the first store in what came to be the Bashas' chain. (Eddie is the father of Eddie Jr., who led the family business for decades and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994.)

The family that sells food so successfully knows the importance of cooking.

"Food is the fabric of our family. Our love for each other centers around the dinner table," said Johnny Basha, vice president of real estate and vice chairman of the board.

Most often, his menu includes several grilled options.

"It's never just steaks. It's chicken and ribs, steaks and fish. He knows what we each like, and he makes sure he's grilled something for everybody," said daughter Laurice, 21.

Compared with his elaborate menus, Basha's grilling setup is decidedly modest. He could easily afford a souped-up grill in the backyard of his sprawling Tempe home, but he prefers a basic, round coal-fired grill. No show, all function.

"You could say his heart is in the charcoal," Ryan said, "and we can say our hearts are with him."